Capcom’s cult classic Killer7 is now available on PC

13 years after its original release on GameCube and PlayStation 2, Capcom’s wonderfully idiosyncratic cult classic shooter Killer7 is now available on Steam. For those unfamiliar with the game (perhaps you just clicked on this story by mistake, or are of a naturally curious disposition), Killer7 was the brainchild of Goichi “Suda51” Suda (later responsible for the No More Heroes series) and Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami. The result of that strange meeting of minds is one of the oddest, most wilfully obtuse AAA games ever to come out of a major development studio. On a very basic level, Killer7 is a third-person on-rails shooter. It tells the story of the elderly Harman Smith and his seven deadly assassins, who find themselves battling against terrorist organisation Heaven Smile. And that’s probably all the plot you should get beforehand. Killer7 was originally part of the legendary (and ill-fated) GameCube-exclusive Capcom 5 deal, which ultimately gave the world Resident Evil 4, P.N.03, and Viewtiful Joe. The fifth planned game, Dead Phoenix, was eventually cancelled. In that line-up of already wildly inventive, distinctly unusual titles, Killer7 is easily the strangest, flatly refusing to follow previously established game design rules. It’s an odd little beacon of creativity in the annals of gaming, and there’s nothing quite like it, either before or since. There’s its striking visual style, all sharp lines and gentle gradients of colour, an endlessly oddball control scheme, part auto-runner and static gallery shooter. And then there’s relentlessly unsettling, thoroughly off-kilter tone… [Read full story]